Insurance Times rounds up the biggest mergers, acquisitions, sales and capacity deals from 29 July to 2 August 2024
This week, as the insurance industry entered its quieter – never quiet – month of August, there were a number of high profile deals announced in the market.
On Thursday 1 August, broker Howden announced a deal to acquire Allianz UK’s musical insurance book, in a move intended to grow the broker’s schemes book.
The deal will see Howden incorporate Allianz’s music customer base and marketing and operations teams into its Lark Music scheme.
Allianz’s music book represents £7.3m in gross written premiums (GWP) and will service 68,000 customers, with the insurer staying on as an exclusive capacity provider for the new scheme.
On Monday 29 July, Markerstudy also announced a plan to purchase Northern Irish broker Hughes Insurance, which looks after 85,000 customers across the motor, home, van, travel and commercial insurance sector.
The acquired business will join Markerstudy’s distribution division, which includes Lancaster Insurance and BGL Insurance.
Markerstudy chief executive Kevin Spencer commented: ”We’re committed to the Northern Ireland market and are looking forward to welcoming [the Hughes] team and supporting their aspirations to deliver growth and innovation to enhance their customer offering.”
Also on Monday, news broke that private equity firm Inflexion would sell off its stake in broker David Roberts and Partners (DR&P) to BMS Group.
Inflexion first invested in DR&P in 2021 and reinvested in 2023 to support further growth of the business. With its support, DR&P completed 14 acquisitions over three years and increased earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items (ebitda) by 10 times.
Commenting on its largest acquisition to date, BMS Group said it was creating a “formidable force” of a broker that now managed over £8bn of gross written premiums (GWP).
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